Draft of a letter from Friedrich Engels to John B. Shipley, [London], 3 October 1893; the place, in square brackets, is supplied by us. Manuscript preserved at the IISG (Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers, inv. K 1506), transcribed from the digital facsimile by the Escuela de marxismo, 2026 (double reading and collation with the image). Written in English. Diplomatic transcription: spelling, capitals and punctuation as in the manuscript; underlining in italics; deletions as text; interlinear and marginal additions inserted where marked, with a note; [?] after an uncertain reading. Traducción al español

3/10/93

Dr Sir

On my return from abroad I find your letter of Aug. 10th. I regret am afraid1 I cannot assist you be of any use to you in your dispute with your family. Even were your legal right to the money a good deal clearer to me than it is, I could only say that you, as a poor man, would hardly have the ghost of a chance, in English law courts, against wealthy2 people who moreover3 could fight you with your own money. When I was4 in business, our firm had a lawsuit and[?] won[?] it, with this result that they had [ilegible] [ilegible] £ 600 out of the victory[?]. But5 Supposing however you had the money to fight,6 my advice would still be: keep it rather than waste7 spend it on law.

As to a lawyer such as you describe & who would be willing to undertake your lawsuit, you will not be astonished if I tell you I [ilegible] [ilegible] know such a one.

Regretting I cannot give you a more comforting reply I remain &c

  1. «am afraid» written above the line. ↩

  2. «wealthy» written in the left margin. ↩

  3. «moreover» written above the line. ↩

  4. «I was» written above the line, within the deleted passage. ↩

  5. «But» written above the line. ↩

  6. «to fight» written above the line. ↩

  7. «waste» written in the left margin. ↩